Hummer brings Riders Stories to Life with ‘In Color’

PUEBLO, Colo. – Veteran PBR broadcaster Craig Hummer was hunkered down in the television talent room at the Sprint Center last weekend in Kansas City, Missouri, with his yellow and orange highlighters by his side, a pen in his hand and a massive stack of papers containing years and years of PBR information.

Hummer began to go step-by-step through the upcoming CBS Sports Network broadcast show format and was scribbling notes left and right, highlighting important elements of the show he needed to be prepared for.

It is a weekly routine for Hummer, who has been the PBR’s lead play-by-play broadcaster for the last 13 years, and it is only an extremely, small snippet of the amount of preparation Hummer does on a daily basis when the cameras are turned off and the 8-second clock is not out and running.

Inside the talent room, a question is brought up if Dener Barbosa is the only rider to have ridden in every championship round in 2018.

Hummer quickly says, ‘Give me one second,’ and begins to ravage through his stack of papers.

“What section is he in?” Hummer asks.

Hummer organizes his stack of papers, which is essentially a PBR encyclopedia, each night based on the buck order of the upcoming round. The Kenyon College product spends every week, including into the wee hours of the night on event weekends, at home and on the road updating his bio sheets on every rider competing on The PBR 25^th: Unleash The Beast.

The sheets contain all sorts of information: names of family members, buckoff streaks, career-high rides, top performances, hometowns, round wins, event wins, career highlights, additional stats, random nuggets that he has read on PBR.com or learned of through interviews inside the locker room and much, much more.

Sure enough, Hummer, who has been involved with the PBR for more than of its existence, finds Barbosa’s sheet and confirms that the world leader has ridden in every championship round.

The preparation and his meticulous approach to his profession is one of a champion athlete, and that should come as no surprise seeing as Hummer was a prized, athlete himself.

Hummer was dominant across the ocean sports scene from the late ‘80s and early 1990s to the tune of over 40 national and international titles, including six consecutive International Ironman and seven straight American Ironman titles.

“I never have been a bull rider, but I get the championship mindset and I get the athletic mindset because of what I have been able to do,” Hummer said. “That has always given me an advantage. I don’t know if people would give it as much credence as it does help me. It isn’t a stretch for me to think like a successful athlete because I was one.”

Sometimes it takes an athlete to know an athlete, and Hummer’s athletic background, as well as his extensive knowledge of the PBR, helps him get various past and present PBR athletes to speak freely and openly during the first season of “In Color.”

“In Color,” is a series offering in-depth, intimate conversations with current and past PBR stars. The first two episodes feature four-time PRCA champion J.W. Harris and 2008 PBR Rookie of the Year Reese Cates. Both are available to watch for free on RidePass as part of an exclusive 30-day trial period.

“I hope what fans get is seeing a different side of these guys,” Hummer said. “We only have a limited time during the broadcasts through the whole broadcast team to try and show different angles and perspectives of them. What is cool about “In Color” is it is in their own words.

“We are going to get a chance to not just take things they have already done, but take experiences they have already had and talk about it themselves. This show format is it is not about the bells and whistles. They are not faking their emotions or their answers.”

Without spoiling future episodes, two interviews that stand out in Hummer’s mind were the upcoming episodes with Robson Palermo and Matador Beef Jerky bullfighter Shorty Gorham.

The two episodes are good examples of how “In Color” takes viewers into the lighthearted side of PBR athletes, such as Gorham’s fear of snakes, to the more serious, darker areas with Palermo’s bout with depression.

“Robson Palermo admitting he wanted to kill himself. That was shocking,” Hummer said. “Having him talk about actually physically thinking about putting a gun to his head was pretty heavy.

“In Color” is collaboration between PBR on CBS Creative Director Cory Kelley (ChromaZone Productions Inc.) and Hummer. Kelley is also one of the producers for the other RidePass original series, “Keepin’ It 90.”

“Craig’s candid relationship with the cast of the PBR locker room shines bright in simple black and white conversations,” Kelley said. “This program illustrates extraordinary stories of the cast and characters that make up our sport.”

The collaboration between Kelley – an eight-year PBR veteran himself – and Hummer made sense.

Hummer, who also will be hosting select rounds of Unleash The Beast bull riding on RidePass, had been pitching the idea of longer form video interviews with riders for the last couple of years.

“Mainly because I don’t get a chance to do long-form, sit-down interviews, which I absolutely love to do,” Hummer said. “I have to do my homework number one. Number two, you don’t get the opportunity to do this kind of stuff.

“Having been a reporter and the roles I do here, reporting is one of the hardest jobs to do because you have to think on your toes. That is the other thing I like about it for me. You have to be on your game going into this.”

RidePass propels Hummer the opportunity to host, interview and report on the PBR whenever he is not committed to a CBS or CBS Sports Network broadcast.

Hummer’s diverse background in television has only helped him continue to evolve as he dives into his latest roles with RidePass.

The 52-year-old has been nominated for multiple Emmys, with his broadcasting work spanning close to 60 different sports for hundreds of telecasts on every major network in the United States, as well as syndicated shows worldwide, since beginning his career in 1995 at a few minor aquatic events.

Once he retired from being a full-time athlete in 1996, Hummer transitioned into television and started to host and report on triathlons, AVP Volleyball, surfing and other ‘alternative’ or ‘lifestyle’ sporting events for ESPN, Prime Ticket, Fox Sports Net, and OLN.

Hummer became a play-by-play broadcaster at the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney, Australia, where he was assigned to the sailing venue. Hummer later covered a variety of different sports at five Olympic Games (Athens, Torino, Beijing, Vancouver and London).

His various roles covering the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong and the cycling industry in the 2000s is also another example of Hummer’s perfect fit for RidePass. Not only did he report, host and call play-by-play, but Hummer also co-wrote an Amazon best-selling book, ‘The Loyal Lieutenant’ with professional cyclist George Hincapie.

Hummer is the ultimate utility man when it comes to sports media and is always thriving with the various roles of digital storytelling.

Fans can watch Round 1 of the St. Louis Invitational, presented by Express Employment Professionals, on Saturday night exclusively on RidePass.

Hummer can now dive into his broadcast tool box a little deeper through RidePass.

“I like to mix it up,” Hummer said. “I certainly have been able to do that throughout my career in regards to the different sports I have covered.

“It will be fun to go back to this role with RidePass. I kind of see it as a cool-hybrid role.”